Stove pipes and installation fees add from $900 to $1,100, Stark said. Blowers, which radiate heat throughout a house, cost about $200. But most homeowners don't buy blowers because ceiling fans do the same thing, Stark said.

Much of the cost depends on whether you want the stove to heat one room or an entire house. Because the stovepipe must go to the chimney or roof, the number of stories in your home will influence the cost.

Stoves come in three types: wood stoves, pellet stoves and corn stoves, which are considered a subset of pellet stoves. Some stoves are more energy efficient and heat more square footage than other models, so it's important to compare models and brands.

Pellet and corn stoves rely on electricity to mechanically meter fuel into the stove. Wood stoves are an independent heating source, which can come in handy in a power outage.

Consumers must factor in the cost of the stove fuel.

Corn stoves, on average, burn one bag of corn per day. You can expect to pay anywhere from $2.50 to more than $5 per bag at farm supply stores or at grain elevators, where you might have to supply your own bag. But be careful to check what you're buying: Bags usually hold either a full bushel of 56 pounds or just 50 pounds.

The pellets used in a pellet stove are granules made of sawdust. They sell for about $199 per ton, or 50 bags weighing 40 pounds each. One estimate is that one bag of pellets per day is required to heat a moderate-size house, or 2 to 3 tons of pellets to heat a house and eliminate a utility bill.

As for wood-burning stoves, consumers can expect to pay $100 to $210 for a cord of wood. Oak tends to be more expensive, but it burns hotter and slower than walnut or elm.

In some instances, wood-burning stoves require a cord of wood for two months of heat.

The energy efficiency and size of a house are factors in how much fuel is needed to heat it. The amount of fuel is determined by whether a stove serves as a primary or secondary heating source.

In general, the Hearth Products and Barbecue Association says, the average cost of firewood is 61 percent less a unit than electricity, and 20 percent less than oil or natural gas.

However, John Talbott, a deputy director of building research and standards for the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, offers a word of caution. Stoves are less efficient than traditional furnaces when the amount of fuel is compared with the amount of heat provided, he said.

"There are no testing procedures in the federal government" for renewable energy sources, Talbott said.

"You can't guarantee the quality of fuel. With all the different species of wood, the greenness or water content [of wood] can lower the efficiency. A gallon of oil is a gallon of oil. It goes through standards."

The price of firewood is not a factor for Lamb. He owns a tree farm and has a free supply of firewood.

"We have fallen trees," said Lamb of his family's decision to use a stove. "We have a free energy source. And we saw it as a better environmental situation to heating our home."

Lamb also uses the stove's ashes to melt ice or provide traction on his snow-covered driveway. So he saves money on manufactured ice melting products.

Stoves reduce air pollution and improve air quality because they burn organic matter instead of fossil fuels, which decrease air quality, contributing to global warming and greenhouse effects.

Since 1992, new designs and technology have reduced the amount of smoke a stove releases. The Environmental Protection Agency certifies such stoves, and consumers should check stoves for the permanent federal label, said Lisa Hanlon, an EPA scientist in Kansas City, Kan.

Energy-efficient stoves harness smoke, using it as an energy source. Some stoves also control the amount of air into the fire, thus conserving stove fuel or burn time of that fuel.